i recently relocated my alembic collection from seattle to denver. they've been getting played alot, the ebony fingerboards are looking a little dry and it's about time for a fretboard oiling and string changing party (plus it's gray and misty here in denver today - makes me wax nostalgic for my huge music room with the big bay window in my old house....sigh)

i sent my wife out for lemon oil and she came back with this stuff called weiman natural lemon oil. i checked the ingredients and it has no wax or silicones in it. however it does have white mineral oil in it.

i looked in the lemon oil thread and i didn't see anything in particular mentioned about this. what say you? is this ok to use or should i hunt around for some pure unadulterated stuff?

btw - we were just at wild oats ( http://www.wildoats.com/u/home/ ) and they have small bottles of lemon essential oil which mica says "...pure essential lemon oil is the lemon oil I'm talking about. Just a few drops along the board works great. "

ok i spent about 4 hours last night eating smoked salmon, lemon oiling fretboards and restringing 3 alembics and a martin B1. the apartment smells nice and lemon-y now. those fingerboards were way overdue for a treatment and i could almost hear the basses breath sighs of relief after i was done. here's a little wood porn for you ebony afficionados.

the lighting and angle really bring out the grain in the series I fretless neck.

That shot of the Series II is gorgeous- the inlays have some beautiful color in them! Nice of you to shine up that headstock and get all them fingerprints off the tuners and nut before you snapped the photo. =)

The ebony on the fretless is beautiful. Two series basses plus the Spider?!! You are sitting in a pocket of bliss aren't you? Congratulations and play 'em in good health~

That's a very nice fretless Tim. I played nothing but fretless in the 80's. Still have my old MM Sabre fretlees but wouldn't mind having an Alemic. Man I have got to stop looking at these pix. I'm running out of room in my music room. LOL

it's a sweetie. it was an incredibly lucky catch. back in 2000 i had a fretless essence that gave me deire to step up to a series instrument. it was in the waning days of the .com frenzy and i had perhaps a little more money than sense at the time. bunnybass has 3 fretless series I's up for grabs, this being the most expensive one. there was a graphite neck one that i made a play for but was sold before i could get the transaction completed. the gentleman who ran the site at the time (i forget his name) apparently felt kind of bad about it and let me have this one for the price the other one sold for. i couldn't get my checkbook out fast enough. the photos of this bass are probably still up there it their archive but it's now a pay site :-( those guys sure knew how to shoot bass porn!

btw oiling the neck on this bass brought out the top end again. i really should have done it a long time ago..

I've heard that if you ask nicely they'll send you a login and password for free. They sure know how to photograph musical instruments, but they were perhaps a little too optimistic - musicians that will pay to look in the shop window? There has to be a taboo on the merchandise if you want that business model to work.<g>

Hey long in the tooth club members, I seem to recall Rick Turner speaking on lemon oil brands. Something like lemon grass extract or something like that.He also had commented on Canare cable and Flitz brass polish. I don't know where I read that stuff maybe Bass Player Mag.? Did Rick have a column at one time? Since he was a founding partner at Alembic I take him on his word. I use Canare cables and flitz. Can anyone out there remember his comments?

Rick had a column in Bass Player. Clarification- he wasn't a founding partner of Alembic. He came on when the company was changed from a partnership between my parents (the founders) into a corporation.

I recommend the lemon oil and Flitz, aren't I good enough for you, Barry ;-) Oh yeah, and Canare cable is good stuff too (though I personally prefer a heavier jacket).

Reoiling really does wonders. It looks and feels so nice to play compared to a board that's all dried out. I love how the oil dissolves the dead skin cells that accumulate at the edges of the frets and cleans that gunk all away. Plus, if you use the pure lemon oil, it's got that great scent.

Sorry Mica, I don't know my Alembic history as well as I thought.(Damm your tests are hard!)Your lemon oil was never in question,if anybody knows anything about anything it is you.I take your word as the last word. SOOOO.....what cable gives your ears a tickle?

About twice a year I do the 'fingerboard job': I tape off the f'board between the frets with that blue 3M lo-tack masking tape and use a very fine grade sanding sponge to shine up the frets, followed by steel wool to get that mirror finish. I'll run a toothpick (although those bamboo skewers work better and are virtually unbreakable) at the foot of the fret on each side to collect that crud. Then I pull the tape and put the lemon oil on and let it soak for about 20 minutes. Then I wipe off the remainder, new strings put on, tune, check the action/harmonics (waste of time, my neck has not appreciably moved in five years), and play the stretch out of the new strings. Done, it feels great!